PHILOSOPHY NEWSLETTER 2017

Obermann Summer InstituteThe Department of Philosophy hosted a week long international summer seminar, The Philosophy of Logical Atomism: A Centenary Celebration, organized by Gregory Landini and Landon Elkind and sponsored by generous funds from the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies. Landini and his advanced Ph.D. student Landon Elkind enthusiastically advocated different and unique new interpretations of logical atomism. Eleven distinguished professors from many parts of the world offered incisive evaluations of Russell’s atomist ideas for a new scientific conception of philosophy that once was thought to offer the promise of finally solving philosophical problems. Engaging pieces were offered by Iowa’s faculty participants, including Richard Fumerton, Katarina Perovic, and David G. Stern. Stay tuned for news concerning the publication of an anthology of the conference papers! Special thanks to the Obermann Center’s Prof. Teresa Magnum and Erin Hackathorn, for their excellence. The Bertrand Russell Society (Iowa Chapter) kindly loaned us its inspiring banner (pictured!)

From the Chair:

Greetings from EPB!We have had an exciting year at the Philosophy Department, and we wanted to send some updates again about departmental goings-on.

Perhaps the first thing to report is that in spring 2017 we saw the retirement of Professor Evan Fales. We are pretty much in denial about this, but at the same time we are extremely excited for him. We still get to see Evan on a regular basis – he serves on dissertation committees and meets regularly with students – and he is also continuing his very active research program. Please make sure to take a look at the brief write-up about Professor Fales below.

The department is excited to have implemented a number of new initiatives in the last couple of years. One is our undergraduate intern program, where every year we hire four to six students for one semester each to help us with departmental activities – for example, major fairs, Hawkeye Visit Days, the bi-weekly Owl of Minerva Theater, and the philosophy club. We are able to pay the students a small stipend, and they really enjoy helping to create and solidify our increased sense of departmental community. These (and other) students are also going on to do very exciting things after graduation. Please see the section below on Alumni inFocus.

We have also developed a new service-learning course, PHIL 3920: Philosophy in Public. Part of the idea here was to recognize that philosophy majors and minors want to be part of their local community while at UI and beyond, and the PHIL 3920 course helps to provide a structure for that. Our students volunteered at local K-12 schools, the Crisis Center, Crowded Closet, the Senior Center, the Iowa City Animal Shelter, Ronald McDonald House, Dance Marathon (to raise money for cancer research), Girls on the Run, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters; they also volunteered with UI Athletics Football, the UI Student Judicial Court (where one student served as Chief Justice), and the Imam Mahdi Organization. (cont. page 2)

(notes from the chair continued)

Another idea that motivated the course is that although students want to have a career post-graduation, most do not want their education to be only about securing a job. Many of our students resent the suggestion that a college education is just about making a lot of money, or that they should become cogs or bots, and indeed we want to do everything that we can to make sure that their education is as rich and encompassing as possible. In PHIL 3920 there are a number of segments along these lines – on how to incorporate personal and social goals into one’s professional pursuits, on careers for liberal arts majors, on work-life balance, and many other issues. Enrolled students complete a set number of hours in the community, and develop valuable skills, and then in class they apply philosophical concepts and principles to their experience. We also direct the PHIL 3920 students and all of our undergraduates to attend the annual UI internship and career fair,and to schedule complementary meetings at the career center, so that all students have as many options as possible once they leave theuniversity.

This past year we also had the first meeting of our new UI Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, along with the publication of the first issue of our undergraduate journal, Labyrinth. The conference was held during the last week of the spring semester, and the turnout was really remarkable. Four students presented to an audience of around fifty – a combination of students, faculty, and community members – and there was lots of Q&A and discussion. Pizza and beverages were enjoyed as well. The conference also featured a panel in which students weighed in on the film screenings of our Owl of Minerva Theater for the semester, which focused on the topic of technology and well-being.

Another fun new idea that we implemented issomething that we have called the Save the Brain Initiative. A lot of us in the philosophy department are tired of seeing reports of students who are severely injured driving around the Iowa City area on a motor-scooter without wearing a helmet.

We certainly do not want to restrict the freedoms of our students, but we now offer a $20 credit toward the purchase of a helmet to any student who for financial or other reasons has gone without one. We have even intercepted a few students at stop signs and told them that they are far too priceless not to be wearing a helmet; and we let them know that they can drop by the Philosophy Department any time.

This year we have also instituted a new 1-hour philosophy “lab” course that students can opt to take in conjunction with one of our large lecture courses. Those courses always involve a smaller 50-minute discussion section with an experienced graduate student TA, but we also wanted students in a large

lecture course to have the opportunity for more one-on-one interaction with faculty. Enrolled students attend a Q&A session each week and attend office hours at least five times during the semester.

A number of our existing programs have also continued. We offer a volunteer outreach course once or twice a year at the Senior Center in downtown Iowa City. Thus far the 4-week courses have included “Freedom and Authority” and “Reflections on Meaning,” and now in fall 2017 we are beginning a series on the great historical philosophers. This was decided at the end of the last course, when we asked the participants what they wanted to discuss, and they yelled out: “Nietzsche,” and “Spinoza,” “Descartes,” “Beauvoir,” “Plato.” So we will just do individual courses on these and other figures, and see where it all leads. The level of discussion in the Senior Center courses has been terrific. Members are from all walks of life, and they are eager to weigh in. There has also been very good participation on the part of our UI undergraduates, who participate as part of the Philosophy Club.

The Philosophy Club has continued also, and with a bit more structure. Students now enroll for 1 hour of credit to attend any eight (of twenty or so) departmental events – a film screening and discussion in the Owl of Minerva Theater series, a colloquium plus Q&A, or a regular philosophy club meeting. The continuity of participants has helped to enhance departmental community, and students also engage in lively discussions and write short papers. The film-series themes in recent semesters have included technology: its benefits and pitfalls, friendship, knowledge and perspective, and the nature of evil.

We have also been excited to be able to continue our IowaLyceum program that brings philosophy to local high-school students. Our graduate students originated the program, and participation has increased every year. This past summer we held the Lyceum for the fourth time, and the student discussions were just terrific. Please see the section below on the Iowa Lyceum, which includes a number of pictures. As we all know too well, it is not especially common for philosophy to be offered in K-12, but we as a department are trying to take the lead in breaking that trend. We are taking steps to do more philosophy outreach during the regular academic school year, and to reach pre-high-school students also. A longer term goal for the department is to help interested students to earn a teaching credential and secure a K- 12 position, and perhaps eventually become principals and administrators who can have an influence on curricula. There is no other university that is doing this, and so it is exciting to take the lead.

Another continuing development is that we are still seeing a significant increase in the number of UI students taking our courses, where many of these students then go on to major or minor, or to study philosophy as part of a double-major. In the last three years our undergraduate enrollments have more than doubled, and we saw another 6% increase again

In the fall 2017. We aren’t very big on the idea of maximizing enrollments per se, but we are very much invested in the idea of increasing the number of students and citizens who acquire philosophical training. Part of what we have tried to do to get philosophy on the radar of as many students as possible is to emphasize that it teaches extremely practical skills at the same time that it allows students to pursue some of the most interesting questions and problems that are known to humankind.

We include a sample list of these questions on the bulletin board at the entrance to the department, and we distribute similar materials to students at major fairs and other events.

We also advertise to students that year-in and year-out philosophy majors earn among the very highest average scores on the LSAT (for law school), the GMAT (for business school), the MCAT (for medical school), and the GRE for graduate study in any field). We are excited at the prospect that our students will make a real impact after graduation – as doctors, nurses, businesspeople, financial analysts, attorneys, judges, veterinarians, dentists, city planners, writers, filmmakers, hospital administrators, pharmacists, policy officers, detectives, rights activists, politicians, military analysts, firefighters, K-12 teachers, principals, and more. That way philosophers would be doing the joint work of critiquing institutions and also helping inform their shape in media res. We are also just excited at the prospect of helping our students to converge on really great lives.

We are also happy to report that we have had a number of distinguished philosophers visit the department and give talks in the last couple of years, and we have a full slate of talks scheduled for 2018-19. In the last two years we enjoyed talks by Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers), on the origin of the universe; Laure Paul (UNC Chapel Hill), on how to stand toward desires of our future self; Timothy Williamson (Oxford), on knowledge and skepticism; Charles Mills (CUNY – Graduate Center), on racial justice; Lynne Rudder Baker (U Mass Amherst), on the ontology of everyday objects; Elizabeth Anderson (Michigan), on egalitarianism; and many others.

And the philosophy faculty and graduate students are doing very well. We are up her in the EPB second-floor hallway, still arguing about stuff, and of course teaching classes, presenting at conferences, and writing books and articles. Please see the sections below on Faculty news and Graduate Student Achievements for more specific updates. Note that the philosophy faculty have been extremely productive in their research and teaching, but my colleagues have also been doing very important service work with an eye to influencing the shape of the university and the profession. In the U.S. we are at a critical juncture in terms of post-secondary education and what it consists in, and I take great comfort in the fact that my colleagues are at the helm and making an intervention.

Please note finally that all of you are welcome to attend – and indeed we would be really excited if you did attend – any of our upcoming events. We have a number of colloquium and movie activities in spring 2018 – all listed in the events section below – and there will be many others in the semesters that follow. You can also email me and I would be happy to meet in advance of any event to say hello. We would love to see you and have you be part of the debate.

David

David CunningProfessor and Collegiate ScholarU Iowa Philosophydavid-cunning@uiowa.edu

Iowa LyceumThe Iowa Lyceum is a free, week-long philosophy camp held each summer for high school-aged students. The goal of the Lyceum is to offer high school students who may not otherwise be exposed to philosophy an opportunity to critically engage with philosophical ideas and texts. Each Iowa Lyceum consists of introductions to logical reasoning, sessions organized around the year’s theme that are led by professors and graduate students in the philosophy department, and student presentations on a related topic of their choosing. The 2017 Iowa Lyceum’s theme was “Philosophy and Politics.” Session topics included the politics of discourse, the use of the media in forming beliefs, political rights and obligations, propaganda, hate speech, the right of children to vote, and pluralism, among others. Additionally, each student received a copy of Michael Sandel’s Justice. The 2017 Iowa Lyceum was organized and directed by graduate students Landon Elkind, Nikolaos Maggos, and Jared Liebergen, but much credit also go to the faculty, graduate students, and staff in the department that make each year’s Lyceum possible. Looking forward, the theme of the 2018 Iowa Lyceum is “History of Philosophy,” and will include often neglected topics such as the prominent role of women and minorities in shaping philosophical thought. The 2018 Lyceum will be organized by Landon Elkind, Jared Liebergen, and Laura Brown.

The Lyceum was recently awarded a development grant by the American Philosophical Association.

FACULTY NEWSAsha Bhandary Recent publications

• Bhandary, A. 2018. “Dependency care before pizza: A reply to Jan Narveson,” Journal of Philosophical Research, forthcoming.

• Bhandary, A. 2017. “The Arrow of Care Map: Abstract Care in Ideal Theory,” Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, forthcoming.

• Bhandary, A. 2017. “Arranged Marriage: Could it Contribute to Justice?” Journal of Political Philosophy, doi: 10.1111/jopp.12144.

• Graber, A., Carter, S., Bhandary, A., Matthew Rizzo. “The Case for Enrolling High-Cost Patients in an ACO”. HealthCare Ethics Committee Forum: An Interprofessional Journal on Healthcare Institutions' Ethical and Legal Issues. (2017).

• Bhandary, A. 2016. “Liberal Dependency Care,” Journal of Philosophical Research 41:43-68.• Bhandary, A. 2016. “A Millian Concept of Care,” Social Theory and Practice 42 (1):155-182.

Presentations and talks• “Abstract Care” at the Society for Analytical Feminism’s conference in Lowell, MA in Sept. 2016

(peer reviewed)• “Deformed Desires and Unjust care-giving arrangements” at the American Society for Value

Inquiry’s group session at the Eastern APA in January 2017. (invited)• Invited colloquium paper to the Philosophy Department at Wellesley College on April 14, 2017.• The University of Connecticut Inaugural Robinson Grover philosophy colloquium, with

commentators, April 2017.

Professor Bhandary is on the Philosophy Department Graduate Studies Committee, the Lectures & Arrangements Committee, and the ad hoc budget committee. She also serves as the departments Diversity Consultant. She is also a member of the UI Steering Committee for The Studio at UI (2016-2017). She recently facilitated an invitation for the IOWA Lyceum to give a philosophy presentation to a group of academically talented minority junior high students at Southeast Junior High. She is currently at the end of a 3 year term on the advisory board for PIKSI-Rock. She is a member of the Steering Committee for Feminist Ethics and Social Thought (FEAST), and she is also Chair-Elect, with her term as Chair beginning Jan. 1, 2019.

David CunningProfessor Cunning is Chair of the Department. He recently served as Co-Chair of the 2016-2021 UI Strategic Plan Committee, and he is currently Co-Chair of the UI CLAS 2020 committee on the restructuring of the university.

Recent publications• Margaret Cavendish: Philosophical Writings, Oxford University Press (in press)• Descartes, under contract with Routledge, for the series The Routledge Philosophers• "Cavendish on the Metaphysics of Imagination and the Dramatic Force of the Imaginary World,"

Early Modern Women on Metaphysics, ed. Emily Thomas, Cambridge UP (2017)

• "Simple Natures and Eternal Truths," The Cartesian Mind, ed. Cecilia Wee and Jorge Secada, Routledge (2017)

• "Descartes and the Force of Skepticism," Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present, ed. Baron Reed and Diego Machuca, Bloomsbury Academic (2017).

Professor Cunning’s book, Cavendish, was the focus of an Author Meets Critics Session at the 2017 American Philosophical Association conference in Seattle. He defended the arguments of the book against the objections of numerous critics. Professor Cunning also presented his work at the February 2017 Columbia University conference, “Rethinking Philosophy’s Past.”

Jovana DavidovicRecent Publications• “Reconsidering the Legal Equality of Combatants,” Journal of Military Ethics (forthcoming)• “Human Rights Through Practice: A Defense of the Practical Approach to Human Rights,” Human Rights: Political Approaches, eds. Tom Campbell and Kylie Bourne, London, U.K.: Routledge Press, 2017 •“Proportionate Killing: Using Traditional Jus in Bello Conditions to Model the Relationship Between Liability and Lesser Evil Justifications for Killing in War,” Weighing Lives: Combatants and Civilians in War, eds. Jens Ohlin, Claire Finkelstein and Larry May, Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2017• “Proportionality and Necessity Conditions Jus In Bello,” for Cambridge Handbook of Just War Theory, eds. Sharon Fyfe and Larry May, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2017 • “What Do We Owe Refugees: Jus Ad Bellum and Jus Post Bellum Consequences,” Journal of Global Ethics, 12:3, 2016, pp. 347-364 (to be reprinted in Refugee Crisis: The Borders of Human Mobility, London, U.K.: Routledge, 2018)•“Moral and Political Justification of the ICC,” The Critique, series on the Challenges and Opportunities of a Rising Africa, September 2016, available at http://www.thecritique.com/articles/the-international-criminal-court-africa• Review of Torture and Moral Integrity by Matthew Kramer, Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2015 in Analysis 76:2, 2016, pp. 261-263•Review of How We Fight, eds. Helen Frowe and Gerald Lang, Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2015 in Analysis, 76:2, 2016, pp. 259-261

Presentations• Liability to Defensive Harm, Forfeiture and Reciprocity Theories of RightsThe Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) 8th Annual Conference (in collaboration with ConceptLab), Oslo Military Academy, Oslo, Norway, August 2017 (invited)• Displacement as a Relevant Harm for Proportionality in WarInternational Society for Military Ethics, Crystal City, Maryland, January 2017Humanitarian Ethics Conference, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, June 2017• What Duties Do We Owe Refugees: Duties to Refugees as Reparations International Law and Ethics of Armed Conflict Conference, Belgrade, Serbia, June 2016 (invited)• Law and Morality of Fighting in War and Expressive Theories of LawInternational Society for Military Ethics, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, January 2016

Additional Accomplishments• Interview with Politifact on just war theory and authority to start war• KCRG-TV (ABC affiliate) panel discussion on Human Rights and Corporate Rights• Convener- workshop on law and morality of war with Ian Fishback• Moderator, Law and Morality of War Workshop on Adil Haque’s manuscript on Law and Morality of War, Georgetown University Law School

Jim DuerlingerPublications

Duerlinger, J., Singh, S., n. (2016). Shantarakshita and Kamalasila on the Nyaya-Vaisheshika theory of a self. the Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 17(2016), 203-270.

Duerlinger, J. (2015). Review of Paving the Great Way, Vasubandhu's Unifying Buddhist Philosophy by Jonathon C. Gold. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.

Carrie FigdorProf. Figdor assumed her role as the Philosophy Department's Director of Undergraduate Studies and was appointed to a 3-year term on the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Scholarship Committee. She continues to serve as an elected member of the Executive Council of the UI's Graduate College. She also continues her public outreach as co-host of the podcast New Books in Philosophy, where she interviews philosophers about their new books: http://newbooksnetwork.com/category/philosophy/. She has written invited blog posts for the UI's Library News website on open access publishing: https://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/news/2017/10/17/guest-post-opening-doors-through-open-access/and for Science Visions, the blog of the Women's Caucus of the Philosophy of Science Association:http://psawomen.tumblr.com/post/162277721852/philosophy-science-and-the-fourth-estate

Recent and upcoming publications• Pieces of Mind: The proper domain of psychological predicates (in press, Oxford University

Press; publication date set for April 2018).• (When) Is Science Reporting Ethical?: The case for recognizing shared epistemic responsibility

in science journalism (2017). Frontiers in Communication.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2017.00003/full

• Trust Me: News, Credibility Deficits, and Balance. To appear in: C. Fox and J. Saunders, eds., Media Ethics, Free Speech, and the Requirements of Democracy (Routledge, Research in Applied Ethics series).

• Experiences of duration and the justification of perceptual beliefs about event durations. To appear in B. Brogaard and D. Gatzia, eds., The Rational Roles of Perceptual Experience: Beyond Vision. Oxford University Press.

• Big Data and Changing Concepts of the Human (forthcoming, European Review). • The Rise of Cognitive Science (forthcoming). In A. Kind, ed., Philosophy of Mind in the 20th and

21st Centuries. Routledge.

Selected recent and upcoming invited presentations• University of Waterloo Brain Day, Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience and the Cognitive Science

Program, University of Waterloo, Canada. Title: TBA. April 6, 2018.• Annual Alumni Day Lecture, CUNY Graduate Center. The Proper Domain of Psychological

Predicates. New York. Dec. 6, 2017.• Trust, Public Discourse, and Ethics: the When Experts Disagree Multidisciplinary Conference on

Trust, Expert Opinion, and Policy. Trust Me: News, Credibility Deficits, and Balance. Dublin, Ireland. Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 2017.

• British Society for Philosophy of Science. The Fallacy of the Homuncular Fallacy. University of Edinburgh. July 13, 2017.

• University of Edinburgh Human Cognitive Neuroscience program. Event Perception: A philosophically-informed psychological and neuroscientific account. Edinburgh. June 28, 2017.

Richard FumertonCommittee Service:• Chair, Committeee on the Selection of Central Academic Officials• Chair, Decanal Review Committee of Dean Djalali• Chair, Committee on Rules and Bylaws• Member, Committee on Academic Values• Member, Search Committee for VP for Medical Affairs and Dean of Carver College of Medicine• Member, Committee on Committees

Publications:• “Regress Arguments and Skepticism” in Skepticism, eds. Baron Reed and Diego Machuca.

London and New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2018, 535-549• “Richard Fumerton” in Interview with Leading Epistemologists, ed. Halil Rahma Acar. Research

Institute for Philosophical Foundations of Disciplines. September, 2017.• “Acquaintance: The Foundation of Knowledge and Thought.” Oxford University Press.

Forthcoming• “Are There Unconscious Mental States?” for Jacquette, ed. Philosophy of Mind: From Antiquity

to the Present, Vol 2, Contemp. Devolpments And Future Directions. Bloomsbury Press.• “Inferential Justification and the Problem of Unconscious Inference. In The Mystery of

Skepticism: New Explorations. Brill. Accepted, Spring, 2017.• “The Costs and Benefits of Profiling,” Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy.” At Press.• “Epistemology and Science: Some Metaphysical Reflections,” Synthese. At Press.• “Fundamental vs. Derivative; Useful vs. Useless: A Response to Bland.” Social Epistemology

Review and Reply Collective, ISSN 2471-9560 Home/Critical Replies• “Reasoning to the Best Explanation” for Best Explanations: New Essays on Inference to the Best

Explanation, eds. Kevin McCain and Ted Poston. Oxford University Press. At press.

Conferences:November, Cambridge University, Roundtable on Rights

Class at the Johnson County Senior CenterThe Senior Center class in fall 2017 was just so much fun. The topic was Descartes, and then in future classes we will build on our discussions and consider the work of philosophers who developed Descartes’ thinking further and also on Descartes’ many critics. The next course will be on Spinoza, and then there will be courses on Cavendish, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Beauvoir.

In the Descartes class we began with the skeptical arguments of the First Meditation and withDescartes’ effort to lead his readers away from the senses and toward more abstract knowledge that is known by the “natural light” – for example, “I am, I exist,” “something cannot come from nothing,”“an idea of God is truly infinite,” “God exists,” and “God is an unchanging simple being who sees and decrees all events for all eternity.” We talked about the dreaded Cartesian Circle – how Descartes knows that his mind works well because he proves the existence of a non-deceiving God, but how Descartes has to trust that his mind works well if he is to give that proof any weight. We explored thedifferent interpretive moves by which Descartes might avoid the Circle, and Professor Cunning laid out his own interpretation, which of course was far too charitable to Descartes himself. The Q&A was the best part of the class, where everyone weighed in with concerns about whether abstract knowledge really does have priority over sensory knowledge, concerns about how finite minds could have an idea of a perfect and infinite God, concerns about the relationship between Descartes’ theology and scripture, and concerns about how there could be room for freedom, and what kind of freedom, in a universe where everything has already been written. The students in the class come from so manydifferent backgrounds and perspectives, and the discussions were amazing. We also had two of our own Philosophy Club students in the course, and it was a lot of fun to have cross-generational dialogues. The next class will be on Spinoza and the thesis that human beings have no free will and God is identical to Nature.

Ali HasanAli Hasan is Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Philosophy. He is also currently serving on the Obermann Center Advisory Board, and the Central American Philosophical Association Program Committee.

Recent PublicationsBook: • A Critical Introduction to the Epistemology of Perception (Bloomsbury Academic 2017)Articles:• "The Grounds of Knowledge Must Be Accessible" In Cowan (ed.) Problems in Philosophy.

Bloomsbury Academic (2018)• "In Defense of Rationalism about Abduction." In Poston and McCain (eds.), Inference to the Best

Explanation. Oxford University Press (2017)• "Skepticism and Spatial Objects." International Journal for the Study of Skepticism (2017)• “Certainty.” Oxford Annotated Bibliographies Online. Oxford University Press (2017)

Presentations/talks:• “An Abductive Solution to the Problem of Memorial Justification,” presented at Northwestern

University’s Epistemology Brown Bag (May 2017), Central States Philosophy Association Conference (Oct. 2017), and at the Central American Philosophical Association (February 2018)

• “Ensemble Dance Improvisation as Collective Action,” with Jennifer Kayle (Department of Dance). Presented at MICI, a workshop on dance improvisation hosted by Franklin and Marshall College (June 2017), and to Dancers in Company, the UI Dance Department’s touring dance company (Sep. 2017)

Diane JeskeBooks:• The Evil that Lurks Within: Why We Need Moral Philosophy, Oxford University Press, forthcoming

2018.

Articles and Reviews:• “Moral and Legal Duties to Family Members,” Oxford Anthology on the Philosophical Foundations

of Children’s and Family Law. (forthcoming)• “Friendship,” Philosophy: Sex and Love, Macmillan Interdiscplinary Handbooks, 2016.• “Filial Duties,” Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging, 2016.• “Aging, Getting Older, and the Good Life,” Palgrave Handbook on the Philosophy of Aging, 2016.• “The Rational Significance of Intimate Relationships,” Love, Reason, and Morality: New Essays

(Routledge, 2016).• Review of Loyalty and Loyalties: The Contours of a Problematic Virtue by John Kleinig (Australasian

Journal of Philosophy, 2016)• Review of First, Second, and Other Selves by Jennifer Whiting (Analysis, 2017)

Presentations: “The Role of the Moral Philosopher in Contemporary Society,” Role Ethics Network Conference, University of London, UK (September 2017)

Other:Panelist, Morality and Politicians, KCRG TV’s Ethical Perspectives on the News, June 20, 2017.

Gregory LandiniGregory Landini has finished a new book, Completing Russell’s 1913 Theory of Knowledge, which hopes to find a publisher soon. The book endeavors to repair the ideas in the only book manuscript that Russell never published—Theory of Knowledge—a book apparently devastated by remarks Wittgenstein made that Russell quizzically says couldn’t understand but “felt in his bones” to be right.

Articles:• “Frege’s Cardinal do Not Obey Hume’s Principle,” HPL forthcoming 2017• “Logic as the Essence of Russell’s Philosophy,” in Russell Wahl (ed.), Bloomsbury Companion to

Russell, 2017 forthcoming.• “Meinong and Russell: Some Lessons on Quantification,” Austrian Philosophy Conference

Proceedings at Univ. Texas at Arlington, 2017, forthcoming.• “Russell’s Logic,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, (2017) forthcoming.

Katarina Perovic

Publications: • Perovic, K. (2017). "Bradley's Regress". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.• Perovic, K. (2016). "Mapping The Understanding Complex in Russell’s Theory of

Knowledge". Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 36 (2): 101-127.• Perovic, K. (2016). “A Neo-Armstrongian Defense of States of Affairs: A Reply to Vallicella”.

Metaphysica, 17 (2): 143-161.• Perovic, K. (2016). "Bare Particulars Laid Bare". Acta Analytica. doi:10.1007/s12136-016-0308-x

Presentations:• “On Metaphysical Pseudo-Problems”, Ernst Mach Workshop, Institute of Philosophy, Prague,

Czech Republic, Prague, June 28th-29th, 2017.• “Can We Be Positive About Russell’s Negative Facts?”, SSHAP, University of Calgary, Calgary, May

2017 and Obermann Seminar on Russell’s and Wittgenstein’s Logical Atomism, Iowa City, June 2017.

• “Fourdimensionalism and Temporally Extended Properties”, Society for Exact Philosophy (SEP), University of Calgary, Calgary, May 2017.

• “Characterizing Negative Facts”, APA Central Division Meeting, Kansas City, March, 2017.• "Accounting for Resemblance Between Universals", invited speaker at University of Nebraska,

Omaha, October 21st 2016.• "Fourdimensionalism and Temporally Extended Properties", invited speaker at Midwestern

Annual Workshop in Metaphysics (MAWM), Lincoln, University of Nebraska, October 14th, 2016.• "Mapping the Understanding Complex in Russell's Theory of Knowledge", APA Central Division

Meeting, Chicago, March, 2016.

David SternPublications.• Wittgenstein in the 1930s: Wittgenstein between the Tractatus and the Investigations. Edited

collection of 15 papers arising out of the May 2015 Obermann Summer Seminar. 110,000 words. Cambridge University Press, in press, forthcoming in late 2018.

• “Wittgenstein between the Tractatus and the Investigations” (editor’s introduction) and “Wittgenstein and Moore on Grammar”, both forthcoming in Wittgenstein in the 1930s: Wittgenstein between the Tractatus and the Investigations.

• The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein, ed. Hans Sluga and David Stern. 514 + xiv pp. (Cambridge University Press, A second edition with five new essays, new introduction, bibliography, and literature guide is in press. January 2018.

• “Wittgenstein in the 1930s.” In The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein, second edition, 126-151. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

• "Wittgenstein’s Texts and Style." In A Companion to Wittgenstein ed. Hans-Johann Glock and John Hyman, 41-55. Blackwell, 2017.

• Wittgenstein: Lectures, Cambridge 1930-1933, From the Notes of G. E Moore, edited by David Stern, Brian Rogers, and Gabriel Citron. Cambridge University Press, 2016. lxxiv + 420 pp.

• “The University of Iowa Tractatus Map.” Nordic Wittgenstein Review 5:2 (2016) 203-220. A discussion of a joint project with Phillip Ricks and Landon Elkind, UI philosophy graduate students. The site is at http://tractatus.lib.uiowa.edu/ The project will be included in an exhibition commemorating the centennial of the Tractatus at the Wittgenstein House in Vienna in October-November 2018.

Presentations and talks• "Wittgenstein and Moore on Grammar." Central States Philosophy Conference, St. Louis.

October 2017.• “Philosophical Platforms: Preserving the Diversity of Interpretations in an Age of Hypermedia.”

Mellon Sawyer Seminar, Boston University. September 2017.• “Mapping the Tractatus.” Plenary lecture, 40th International Wittgenstein Symposium,

Kirchberg, Austria. August 2017.• “Meaning, mind, and action: Wittgenstein's Lectures, Cambridge, 1930-33.” 9th Ludwig

Wittgenstein Summer School. A 4-day program for graduate students and researchers, co-directed with Hans Sluga. Kirchberg, Austria. August 2017.

• “Russell’s and Wittgenstein’s logical atomisms.” Obermann Summer Seminar on “Bertrand Russell’s The Philosophy of Logical Atomism: A Centenary Celebration.” University of Iowa. June 2017.

• "Wittgenstein and Moore on Grammar." Sixth annual conference of the Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. May 2017.

• “Russell’s and Wittgenstein’s logical atomisms.” Session on ‘Russell, Wittgenstein, and Logical Atomism.’ Bertrand Russell Society meeting, at the Central APA, Kansas City, March 2017.

Professor Stern is also Chair of the Lectures & Arrangements Committee in the Philosophy Department, and he serves regularly on a number of collegiate and university committees.

Carrie SwansonPublications: ‘Aristotle on Ignorance of the Definition of Refutation’. (In press.) Apeiron: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science.

Review of Playful Philosophy and Serious Sophistry: A Reading of Plato’s Euthydemus. By G. Sermamoglou-Soulmaidi. De Gruyter (2014). 203 pages. Classical Review 67.2 October 2017.

Review of A Person as a Lifetime. An Aristotelian Account of Persons. By S. Semler. Lexington Books (2016). 158 pages. Journal of Hellenic Studies (forthcoming).

Professor Swanson has also been commissioned by The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy to write an entry on Aristotle's treatise the Topics.

Presentations and Talks:• Prof. Swanson will present her paper ‘Sextus Makes a House Call: Medical Sophisms in the Outlines

of Pyrrhonism’ at the APA Pacific Division in March 2018.• ‘Ancient Epistemology: Nothing New under the Sun?’ for the Midwest Epistemology Workshop,

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Sept 30-Oct 1 2016. • ‘Socrates’ Iolaus and the Resolution of Fallacy in Plato’s Euthydemus’, for the conference

‘Argumentation in Classical Antiquity’, Excellence Cluster Topoi, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, June23-25 2016.

• ‘Socrates’ Iolaus and the Resolution of Fallacy in Plato’s Euthydemus’, for the Chicago Area Consortium in Ancient Philosophy, Chicago IL. February 2016.

Professor Swanson is an active member of the Chicago Area Consortium in Ancient Philosophy, where she will present a paper in April 2017 on a chapter of her book project, Socratic Dialectic and the Resolution of Fallacy in Plato’s Euthydemus. She is also co-teaching with Prof. Cunning our course PHIL 1950: Philosophy in Current Events, Text, and Film, for which she runs a philosophy film series, ‘The Owl of Minerva Theater’. She is also directing a departmental reading group on Michael Wedin’s new monograph, Parmenides’ Grand Deduction: A Logical Reconstruction of the Way of Truth (Oxford 2014). She is a member of the department's Undergraduate Studies Committee and serves as the department's Faculty Assembly representative, where she also serves on the Free Speech on Campus subcommittee. She is also the supervising editor of Labyrinth: The Undergraduate Philosophy Journal of the University of Iowa: https://clas.uiowa.edu/philosophy/resources/news/labyrinth-ui-undergraduate-philosophy-journal.

FACULTY EMERITI – Laird Addis

Since retiring in 2004 after 41 years on the faculty of the Department of Philosophy, Laird Addis has (1) taught ten courses in the Senior College of the University, (2) published three books and five articles, (3) given lectures in Canada, Hungary, Italy, and the United States, (4) organized an international conference on the philosophy of Gustav Bergmann on the occasion of the centenary of his birth (2006), (5) held an Andrew W. Mellon Emeritus Faculty Fellowship (2008- 2011), the first person at Iowa to receive one, and resulting in his most recent book, NIETZSCHE’S ONTOLOGY (2012), (6) composed and had performed (2010 and 2016) two works for string orchestra, (7) continued to play his double bass in the Iowa City Community String Orchestra.

Professor Evan Fales retired at the end of the 2016-17 academic year, after a total of 42 years as ateacher and researcher at the University of Iowa. He is the author of three books -- Causation andUniversals (Routledge, 1990); A Defense of the Given (Rowman & Littlefield, 1996); and DivineIntervention (Routledge, 2010) – and over fifty scholarly articles. He directed or co-directed twelvePh.D. dissertations at Iowa, and he is currently serving as the director of two additionaldissertations, now as an emeritus faculty member. He remains active in the profession in otherways as well: in October 2017 he was a guest speaker for Professor Perovic’s undergraduateseminar on free will, and we are excited that he has agreed to join us for similar visits in thefuture; he also continues to write and present his work at conferences across the nation. We thinkof many things when we think of Professor Fales – his books and articles, his exciting courses, hisexceptional collegiality, his patience to work through every sinew of a philosophical problem, hisresolve to bike to work even in the coldest of temperatures, the images and posters on his officedoor – but one thing that comes to mind immediately is the amount of time that Evan would makefor his students. Every member of the department can recall a time, and indeed numerous times,in which we walked past Evan’s office on our way to class, and he was engaged in a discussionwith a student, and then we walked by his office on the way back from class, and he was talkingwith that student still. There is no effort here to do justice to the contributions that Professor Faleshas made to the philosophy department, but we will just say that we are very excited for himabout the new flexibility in his new schedule, but that we will miss running into him day-to-day.

Evan Fales Retirement

Stephanie Domingo

Sam Gerleman

Hi all!

My name is Stephanie Domingo and I graduated from The University of Iowa last December 2016, with a B.A. in Philosophy and minors in English and Gender, Women's, & Sexuality Studies (GWSS). I thoroughly enjoyed my time studying as an undergraduate in the UI Philosophy Department. I enjoyed the critical thinking, intellectual challenges, and pursuit of what felt meaningful to me in philosophy courses, such as Intro to Political Philosophy, Multiculturalism & Toleration, The Meaning of Life, and Philosophy of Human Rights. Since my time away from UI, I have been serving an AmeriCorps position in a program called RefugeeRISE. In the position, I work with refugees in the Cedar Rapids area to help them adjust to life here in the U.S. and to eventually help them to become self sufficient. I do things such as take them to doctor's appointments, help them to fill out job applications, and assist them through the on-boarding process (paperwork, orientations, etc.) of new job positions. Through my position, I have also had the privilege of teaching an English class, with a focus on Job Readiness, to refugees in order to help them prepare for work and life in the U.S.Moreover, I recently attended PIKSI 2017 - Philosophy in an Inclusive Key Summer Institute. I heard about the institute from UI Philosophy Professor, Dr. Asha Bhandary, and learned that it was developed for underrepresented groups in philosophy, such as women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+. The institute took place at the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State, and we studied topics such as philosophy of race, philosophy of gender and gender-based violence, and philosophy as it overlaps with activism and social movements. One of my biggest takeaways from the institute was my realization that philosophy and activism could be so closely intertwined and that I could use philosophy to make my activism better. It was truly a transformational experience and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to have it!Moving forward, after my AmeriCorps service term ends in September, I plan to (hopefully -- as I am in the process of applying) work for an animal rights/ welfare organization such as Mercy for Animals or The Humane League. I am very passionate about animal welfare issues, especially as they relate to farm animals and other non-human animals that we humans typically eat and use for food. Looking further into the future, I am thinking about attending graduate school for philosophy or law school (or perhaps both, if I am feeling especially ambitious: O). As I move forward into the future, I will always remember and forever be grateful for my time and experience studying philosophy at UI!

Thanks y'all for reading!

Sam graduated in 2016 with a B.A. in Philosophy, Sociology, and Ethics and Public Policy. Since graduating, she has moved to California to attend Stanford Law School and will attain her J.D. in June 2019. This past summer, she worked at the Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice at Berkeley Law doing legal research and analysis to support women of color led advocacy. Next summer, and long-term, she hopes to use the law to propel disability and mental health rights. Sam’s time within the Philosophy department was integral in shaping her critical thinking abilities and situating her as a fervid advocate. Like many areas of philosophy, Sam’s legal experiences have required her to find black and white answers in a world of greys. Her analytic training at Iowa has helped her find, frame, and clearly articulate arguments to advance her claims. Moreover, her reflections on ethics and epistemology concretized her desire to use her educational privilege to make the world more just. She is grateful to the Philosophy department, particularly Professors Fales, Fumerton, and Hasan, for nurturing and encouraging her argumentative nature.

Alumni in Focus

Joshua Jarrott

Katie Marqusee

I graduated from the University of Iowa in 2014 with a degree in Philosophy. Later that year, I moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I am currently a graduate student pursuing an MA in Philosophy at Colorado State University. My interests are in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and logic. I have found a fun way to combine these interests in my thesis, where I focus on the American pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and his understanding of the laws of nature. Peirce thought the laws of nature developed over time to have the values we now observe, but recent scholars have pointed out that the mathematical conditions required to make his story plausible seem to contradict his other metaphysical commitments. I’m trying to reconcile thisdifficulty.

Apart from taking classes and teaching logic for the last two semesters, my day job is as a chocolate maker at Nuance Chocolate in Fort Collins. Nuance is one of only a small number of bean-to-bar chocolate shops in the US, and I was fortunate enough to be the first hired employee, so I’ve really seen the company grow for the last three years. As a fun side note, my boss told me a while after I was hired that it was philosophy that got me the job. According to him, being able to clearly articulate ideas to other people is an essential skill that he wants his employees to have so they can better educate and inform customers about the growing craft chocolate movement. “If you can explain a basic problem in philosophy of time to me that is understandable, you can [certainly] sell chocolate,” he said.

As an undergraduate in Philosophy at the University of Iowa, I was trained to think critically and clearly about some of the deepest and most fundamental issues in life. Philosophy has taught me the value and importance of ethical duties, relationships, intellectual fulfillment, and personal goals. It has improved my thinking, beliefs, and actions. Throughconsistent philosophical thought, I have become a person who thinks more reasonably, and I have begun to question the priorities in my life which has lead me to where I amtoday.

Today, I am further exploring my intellectual growth byteaching English to children in Thailand. I am going to gain new insight and firsthand knowledge about the world we all live in. Philosophy has taught me to forever work to be a more ethical and reasonable person, using personal experience, science, and philosophical research. This is why I am using this year in Thailand to fulfill my own personal mission, to help people in need and acquire invaluable skills to help me reach my further life goals.

After graduating in December 2015, I moved to Austin, TX to pursue my interest in filmmaking. I

worked on several films, including beginning pre-production on a documentary about the future of artificial intelligence, and I was thrilled to find how useful my degree was in that process. I now live in

Madison, WI, where I continue to work as a videographer and producer.

William Roberts

Additional Photos from the Iowa Lyceum

Graduate Student Updates

• Elected Treasurer of the Bertrand Russell Society in June 2017

• Presented "The Nature of Russell's Sense-Data" at the Society for the Study of the History of AnalyticalPhilosophy 2017 Meeting

• Presented "For Inclusive Logic" at the Society for Exact Philosophy 2017 Meeting

• Presented "The Logical Atomism of Bertrand Russell" at, and organized, a Group Session of the Central APA2017 Meeting

• Published "Against Sense-Data as Structured Universals" in Logos and Episteme (forthcoming)

• Awarded a T. Anne Cleary dissertation fellowship, and conducted research in the Russell Archives at McMasterUniversity in summer 2018

• Awarded a 2017-2018 Ballard-Seashore dissertation

Journal Publication:No-Report Paradigmatic Ascription of the Minimally Conscious State: Neural signals as a communicative means for operational diagnostic criteria Minds and Machines (2017,in press)

Conference Presentations:-Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence; Leeds, UK; November, 2017: Selected paper presentation-The Norwegian Summer Institute on Language and Mind(on cognition and computation); Norway, Oslo; July-August, 2017: Selected participant-The 2017 meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SPP); June-July, 2017: Selected paper presentation-Korea Society for Analytic Philosophy; South Korea, Seoul; May, 2017: Selected paper presentation

-Newton Fund Conference on the Philosophies of Mind, Language & Action; Brazil, Sao Paulo; September, 2016: Selected paper presentation

-International Conference on Thinking; August, 2016: Selected poster section

-The 1st Context, Cognition and Communication Conference; Poland, Warsaw; June, 2016: Selected paperpresentation

-Conference on Pragmatism and the Brain; June, 2016: Selected paper presentation

-International Association for Computing and Philosophy Conference (IACP); Italy, Ferrara; June, 2016: Selected paper presentation

Hyungrae Noh

Landon Elkind

Presentations:

Presented “The Ethics of Racial Slurs” at The University of Utah’s Graduate Conference in February 2017

Presented “An Argument Against The Use of The N Word” By All” at The Long Island Philosophical Society’s Conference in New York in April 2017.

Honors and Awards:

University of Iowa's Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award 2016-2017.

Holly Stevenson

Publications

(Forthcoming) “Against Wolterstorff’s Theistic Attempt to Ground Human Rights,” Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy.

(Forthcoming) “Aristotle on the Organ and Medium of Touch,” The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter.

Presentations

“Aristotle on the Organ and Medium of Touch”-American Philosophical Association/Society of Ancient Greek PhilosophyEastern Meeting, January 2018-Midsouth Philosophy Conference, March 2017

“God and the Grounding of Morality”-Graduate Keynote Address (invited), University of Iowa Graduate Philosophical Society FallConference, November 2017

“Secular and Theistic Attempts to Ground Human Rights”-Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, November 2017

“The Harm Principle: ‘Leave Me Alone; I’m not Hurting Anyone!’”-Iowa Lyceum, June 2017

“Against Wolterstorff’s Theistic Attempt to Ground Human Rights”-Jakobsen Memorial Conference, March 2017 (awarded 2nd place for places in the Humanities)-Society of Christian Philosophers—Midwestern Meeting, September 2016-Midsouth Philosophy Conference, February 2016

Honors and Awards

Graduate Keynote Speaker, University of Iowa Graduate Philosophical Association Fall Conference, November2017

-Invited talk based on my “God and the Grounding of Morality” being voted as the best salon presentation of the 2016-2017 academic year

Post-Comprehensive Exam Research Award, University of Iowa, Fall 2017 Summer Research Fellowship, University of Iowa, Summer 2017 Second Best Paper in the Humanities Award, Jacobsen Memorial Conference, March 2017

-$325 awarded for my paper, “Against Wolterstorff’s Theistic Attempt to Ground Human Rights

David Redmond

Fund-Raising

We are attempting to create an endowed scholarship fund for a number of different undergraduate majors and double-majors – philosophy and law, philosophy and pre-med, philosophy and pre-business, philosophy and education, philosophy and government, and other combinations as well. In addition, we are attempting to build on the departmental scholarship fund for graduate students to help them to present their work at conferencesand to have dedicated fellowship research time. We will also use funds to support outreach and engagement (for example K-12 and the Senior Center), the undergraduate internship program, departmental and campus community building, alumni events, career seed grants for recent graduates, and other efforts. Professor Cunning will be matching donations up to $10,000.00 total every year to the UI Philosophy Foundation Fund, as part of a long-term goal of making sure that philosophers are doing the joint work of critiquing institutions and also occupying positions in the non-academic world, to inform the shape of institutions to begin with. Please let us know if you would like to contribute any amount toward this effort. Professor Cunning is working with university administration, community partners, and state legislators to secure additional matches to philosophy department donations, so any contribution would make a tremendous impact.

We would be thrilled if you would be able to donate: www.givetoiowa.org/2018PI99

We appreciate your support!

With thanks,

UI Philosophy Department

EVENTS – SPRING 2018

TALKS

All talks are from 3:00 to 5:00 in the Old Capitol Senate Chamber

Eva Kittay, Stony Brook UniversityFebruary 16, 2018

Susan J. Brison, Dartmouth CollegeMarch 2, 2018

David Sosa, The University of Texas at AustinApril 6, 2018

Jeff McMahan, Oxford UniversityApril 20, 2018

David Redmond, U IowaMay 4, 2018Annual Graduate Student Colloquium

David Boonin, U ColoradoTBD

CONFERENCE

University of Iowa Graduate Philosophy Society (UIGPS) ConferenceApril 7, 2018

MOVIE NIGHT

The Philosophy Department’s Owl of Minerva Theater screens movies on Tuesday evening,

This semester’s Owl of Minerva Theaterexplores puzzles about the existence and nature of evil. The films will be screened in BCSB 101 at 6:30pm on the following Wednesdays:

Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton) | Wed Jan 17

Au Hasard Balthazar (1966, Robert Bresson) | Wed Jan 24

Lord of the Flies (1963, Peter Brook) | Wed Feb 7

The Virgin Spring (Jungfrukällan) (1960, Ingmar Bergman) | Wed Feb 21

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, Woody Allen) | Wed Mar 7

Conspiracy (2001, Frank Pierson) | Wed Mar 21

The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) (2009, Michael Haneke) | Wed Apr 4

Come and See (Idi i smotri) (1985, Elem Klimov) | Wed Apr 18

God on Trial (2008, Andy de Emmony) | Wed May 2